PrinceCon 33 Recap : Overview

What Was Going On?

The player characters have been captured/lured into a SuperDungeon by the Faerie in order to have the player characters gain “Animus” (i.e., XP). The Animus gained is harvested by mnemovores in order to power a terra cotta army that has been constructed to combat the Invasion from Beyond; the terra cotta soldiers being, of course, immune to the natural mental powers of the Beyonders. The harvesting of Animus not only causes a player character to lose XP, but also to lose their short-term memory, thus the PCs are only aware that their party has recently entered Faerie and… that’s odd, the Dwarf Hero Jurgen has gone missing. And Kayla, the human priest of Mavors, suddenly has gray in her hair. The player characters left for Faerie in 989 current era (Mortal Reckoning). It is 1007 at the start of the Con.

Why are the Beyonders Attacking Faerie?

Around the year 450 current era (Mortal Reckoning), Faerie explorers discovered Ways to one of the lands controlled by the Beyonders. Initially entranced by the Beyonders’ high civilization, they almost give up the secret of the Ways to Faerie before realizing that the Beyonders have no interest in coexistence with other sentient beings. Instead, the Faerie adventurers daringly steal some “Beyonder magic” and flee back to Faerie. That magic is later used by the Faerie to create the mnemovores.

Why Didn’t the Faerie Just Ask for Help?

The Fair Folk really *are* callous, egotistical swine although not wholly evil (read some authentic “fairy tales”, and you realize it’s not such a stretch), and so when faced with the Invasion From Beyond they have no compunctions about kidnapping people from the Mortal Realm. Besides, if the Beyonders conquer Faerie they’ll go on to swarm through the contact points, intermittent though they are, and do incalculable harm in the mortal world as well.

After the Final Runs

On all fronts, the Beyonders were driven out of Faerie. In some battles, it was the timely arrival of demihuman-led squads of Terra Cotta Soldiers. In others, it was the arrival of militarily significant magical artifacts. There were at least two reports of a giant Terra Cotta Soldier that stepped over the nearby hills, wreaked havoc in the enemy lines, and then wandered off again. In all cases, it was clear that the mortals had helped turn the tide of battle. Moreover, the Beyonders were unable to sneak into the Mortal Realm during their retreat, and Faerie will stand as a buffer against further invasions from the lands Beyond. The Beyonders suffered terrible losses among their mind-controlled footsoldiers, drones, and scouts; however, none of the Warlords were destroyed or captured.

With the immediate need for more Terra Cotta Soldiers gone, no more mnemovores are being created — they are after all constructs and cannot replicate themselves. The fate of remaining mnemovores that have not reached sentience is not entirely decided, but because they cannot reach sentience without draining a demi-human and there are no forthcoming volunteers for this, it is likely they will be terminated. The sentient mnemovores are another matter. To survive, all they need is to feed on memories to live; a process harmless, and in some cases enjoyable, for the host. Given the mutual benefits that can be gained from bonding, finding hosts for the sentient mnemovores should not be an issue.

After congratulating themselves for having the foresight to bring such useful allies to the defense of the Faerie Kingdom, the Faerie Elders granted safe passage to the Mortal Realm, with guides to lead the Ways, for all demihumans in Faerie. Many left as soon as the victory feast was over, and some even before that, anxious to return home to try to resume the lives they’d left behind 18 years ago. Others decided to stay a while in Faerie. The Beyonder invasion destroyed much of the Faerie civilization, and the lands left in their destructive wake has turned wild and unexplored: just the sort of thing a few hardy adventurers, both demihuman and Faerie, were looking forward to.